The Great Escape
by Dandelion Fire
Summary: After Katniss died I wanted to as well. I wanted to escape my mom, her boyfriends, her drinking, the gossiping. However, after Rory came I felt different. He was a friend, he made me feel like living again. He gave me hope. It's just whenever things go my way things come crashing down again making me want to escape. Rated M for dark themes to be safe.
1. New Boy

**Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.**

My finger brushes over the picture of Katniss and me that I keep hidden in my notebook. I look at it in school occasionally. It helps keep me focused, makes me feel safe. I miss her so much. It's feels like time has passed so quickly and she's missed all of it. I'm in grade twelve now, however I'm supposed to be in grade eleven. I ended up skipping grade nine, because well, I'm smart.

The door to our class opens and I shut my notebook, as if whoever's entering could see it from the front of the room. Our principal, Principal Coin, walks in. Katniss and I used to make fun of Coin. Her hair is in a straight line. No hair out of place, not a split end. We think she wares a wig.

"Hello class," she says in her upfront manner, "This is Rory Hawthorne, he just moved here from District Four. I'm sure you will _all_ make Mr. Hawthorne feel welcome." I lay my head down on the desk and look out the window. Sometimes if you get just the right angle, you can see the meadow. I almost giggle to myself, because no one is going to be nice to him. No one is nice in our school. Good luck Rory Hawthorne. Wait Hawthorne. Is he Gale's cousin or something? I've never heard of him before. I hear the girls whispering, so I assume he's handsome. I crane my head to get a better look at him. My heart starts beating when I see him. His dark brown hair, grey eyes, olive skin. He's muscular, and average high and look athletic too. I focus my head down so that no one sees that I'm blushing. He's just a boy, it doesn't matter that he's handsome I tell myself. This is really not like me. Usually I could care less what people look like.

"Sit with Prim in the back," Beetee, our math teacher, says. He nods his head and slowly walks to the back. He sits down beside me without saying a word. The girls occasionally crane their necks to look at him. Or maybe at me. After I tried to commit suicide I've become a freak to everyone else. The bell rings and I grab my bag. I see Rory slowly picking up his things and take this opportunity to ask him, "So you're a Hawthorne? As in related to Gale?"

He's silent for a while, but then looks up, "Yeah, but they like to keep me hidden."

What does he mean keep him hidden? I decide not to read into that statement and ask, "So are you his cousin?"

"Brother, but if anyone asks you, we're cousins," He says shoving his notebook into his bag, "Keep that a secret though."

"I won't tell anyone," I tell him before leaving.I don't really have anyone to tell.

"Hey Prim," Sae says as I walk into her restaurant.

"Hi Sae," I say sighing.

"What's wrong sweetie?" she asks me. She's one of the only people in the District who care about me.

"I didn't sleep well last night," I say.  
"Why?" she asks me.

"My brain wouldn't shut up," I tell her although that's not the reason. I didn't sleep last night, because my mom brought one of her new boyfriends home. Her boyfriends are usually drunk like her, and sometimes after they're done with her come into my room and try to touch me. It's usually pretty easy to get away though. Most of them are so drunk I just have to push them off of me and they fall to the floor giving me time to get to my window. That's what happened last night.

"Well I'm going to go change," I say grabbing my bag. I always keep my uniform in my bag, so that I don't have to go home then come back here. My uniform consists of my nice dark wash skinny jeans and a blouse. Sae pays for these clothes, because there's no way I can afford nice clothes.

"You look cute," says Leevy. She's a nice lady who works alongside me. She's twenty years older than me, but we're still friends. I like talking to her, because she's inspiring. She has a little girl that she raises all by herself. She was raped when she was thirty and kept the child. Her name's Lucy. She's a pretty little girl, nice too. Then there's Marianne. She had a child when she was fourteen. She's my age now. Sadly she dropped out of school and works here to pay for the baby. She never talks about who the father is, or what exactly happened. I think she was raped too. She's a mature girl, who didn't even have a boyfriend at the time. She was also very modest. Marianne has the Seam look like everyone else at this restaurant except for me. I look as if I'm from town.

"I don't know how you do it all," Marianne says.

"What do you mean?" I ask her as I wipe one of the tables.

"Homework, pressure, a job. I'm worried that you're stretching yourself to thin. You need to spend time with your mom," she suggests.  
"I don't want to spend time with my mom. I come here so that I can make money, so that I can move to another District and start a new life," I tell her. I would never tell this to anyone, however Marianne would never tell a sole. Plus she's going trough the same thing I'm going through. When she had her baby everyone even her own parent shunned her.

"So the Winter Formal is coming up," she says changing the subject.

"Yeah, in two months," I say.

"Are you going to go?" she asks me.

"No one wants to go with a freak," I say. The thing I like about Marianne is she doesn't spit out bull crap about how I'm not a freak. She knows I am one, she just accepts me. The door opens and our first customer enters.

"Well time to get started." I throw myself into work, by being kind and acting bubbly. I compliment the customers, say hello to familiar faces, clean the tables quickly. I'm thankful when eight o' clock rolls around. This is when everyone starts leaving and it's quite. I usually take this time to do my homework…

"Prim," Sae says.

"Yep," I say looking up from my math homework.

"It's ten O'clock time to shut down," she reminds me.  
"Uh, I'll lock up," I say.

"You always lock up," she says.

"It's fine, I'll just chill here for a few more minutes."  
"Prim, you need to go home," she says.

"I don't want to go home!"

She silent for a while, "Okay. Just make sure you turn out the light," she says throwing me the keys.

"I will," I say. After Sae leaves I get up to go to the washroom. I haven't ate much today and I really should, however, I can't bring myself too. I hate it when I eat. It makes me feel weak. When I return from the washroom I grab one of the blankets that Sae keeps in the kitchen. We have blankets because in the winter, sometimes the heating breaks down and we don't want the customers to be cold. I take the blanket and curl up in one of the booths.

The next morning I wake up from the sound of birds chirping. I fold the blanket up and place it back in the kitchen. I then grab my books lock up the restaurant, and head to school. I'll just wear my work clothes, because they're nice, and not dirty.

I notice Rory walking down and sitting beside me. No one ever does, and there's plenty of seats open. Why me? We still don't say anything to each other though. This continues throughout the day. He sits beside me, I sit beside him. We even sit together at lunch. However, we don't say anything. Rory sitting beside me makes me feel a little nervous. I don't feel unsafe though. Maybe it's just me wanting to push people away. Everyone who I end up trusting or loving is gone or disappoints me.

**Little depressing, however, thing will pick up. **


	2. Meeting the Boy

**I wanted to thank ****HarmioneLover for reviewing. I read your story and like it. **

I dipped into my money that I plan to use for running away and bought groceries. I keep a coin jar under my bed. Right now I've saved up one-hundred dollars. I'd have a lot more if I didn't have to keep dipping into it. I'm going to go into a starvation state again if I don't take care of myself. That happened after Katniss died. I stopped caring and no one cared for me. I ended up going from eighty pounds to sixty.

For lunch I make myself a simple ham and cheese sandwich. Then throw a carton of milk in. The grocery store is more expensive than what Katniss used to do. We would have to run all over the god dam District to get bread from the bakery, cheese from the Hob, etc. However, I just didn't have the energy to go from place to place. I feel something soft tickle my feet and look down to see Buttercup.

"Hi baby," I say picking her up. She meows like she always does when I cradle her in my arms. I look over at the clock and see that it's time to go. I wonder where my mom is. She didn't come home last nigh. I should be worried, but I'm not. She's probably at someone's house or something.

School is pretty eventless. I grab my seat where I normally do and Rory sits beside me. At lunch I take my bag out and feel happy that I have a good healthy lunch like every other kid in my class. Rory comes in and sits down beside me. We lock eyes, but still say nothing to each other

I'm just taking a bite of my sandwich when a note is placed in front of me. I push it off the table, because I know that it's going to be mean. Rory looks up just as I push the note off the table. He reaches to pick it up, but I step on it. He seems to notice that I don't want to read it.

"Prim, read it!" Patty says. I look up at the beautiful brunette. I've never really liked her, She's two faced, and has a reputation for making people feel bad.

"I'll read it for you then," she says smiling.  
"Patty I don't want to hear it," I say politely.

"Dear Prim. Can you leave the school? You make many people uncomfortable. You're an anorexic, depressed freak, who was saved from trying to commit suicide. Why were you saved? God know why. Because everyone wants you gone…" I stand up grab my bag and walk out of the cafeteria without another word. Once I'm out of the school, I break into tears and run to my house. I don't stop running until I'm on my bed. I curl up into a ball and sob. Why would she do that? Why would someone be so mean?

How much time has passed? I get up and walk into the living room. The clock reads 12:30, which means I missed work. I'll probably get fired. The thought makes me want to cry again, however, I'm too tired to cry.

"Hello there," says a voice. I turn around and see a man wearing a towel. How didn't I see him there? My blood boils when I see him eating a piece of bread. My bread. I worked hard and paid for it and he's here eating it. "What's your name." I turn around and continue walking back to my room. However, I can hear him following me. The window gets stuck as I try to open it.

"Come here," he says once he's in my room.

"Stay away from me!" I yell finally pushing the window up. As he walks closer I launch myself out the window. I end up falling hands first into a pile of shattered beer bottles. I scream out in pain as the sharp bites of glass enter my hand. I see the man's face looking out the window, but take comfort in the fact that he won't be able to fit through.

"Come here lady," he says, "Or I'll come and get you." His face leaves the window and I know he's going to the door.

"NO!" I say starting to cry again.  
"Prim," says a voice. I look to my left and see Rory sticking his head out of his window, "Come here." I walk over to the window and he grabs my arms to pulls me through. I land on his bed which I'm thankful for. He shuts his window and turns the lights on.

"You're bleeding," he says grabbing my arms.

"Where's Hazel," I whisper, "She can't know I'm here."

"She took her and Posy on a road trip to see Gale in District Two. It's just Vick and me." I nod my head, and try to stop the tears, however, they keep coming. I see the man's shadow go past the window and duck.

"Who is he?" Rory asks me.

"I don't know," I say wiping my eye, I guess my mom brought him home."

"Does this happen a lot?" he asks me.

"Some are better than other's. They usually don't try to follow me though. Usually I get out of the house and they go back to my mother."

"Have you told your mom?" he asks me.

"She knows it happens," I say bitterly. His face is shows shock.

"Well let's get that glass out of your hand," he says leading me into the main room. Their house is small like mine, but at least it's clean. I guess his mom keeps it up to living standards.

"Rory," says Vick coming out of his room.

"This is Prim," Rory says.

"Our neighbor?" he asks me.

"Yep," I say.

"What happened?" he asks me.

"I fell into some glass," I tell him.

"Why are you here?" he asks me.

"Vick go back to sleep, or stop asking questions," Rory tell him.

"Sorry," he says.  
"It's okay," I tell Vick.

"Well I'm going to go back to bed," he says walking away.

"I'm going to have to pull the glass out," Rory tells me.

"I can do it," I tell him taking one piece and plucking it from my skin. It hurts, but I'm determined not to show emotions. I want him to think that I'm still strong. Blood is trickling from places where the glass was, but that's least of my worries. Rory and I are able to get the glass out in under ten minutes. He then pours something on it to stop infection and then wraps it up.

"You know a lot about healing," I notice.

"My grandma was a healer," He tells me.  
"My mom was a healer too. When I was younger I wanted to be a doctor," I say.

"So why don't you be one," He says.

"I can't really afford to go to University," I say.

"What would you be then?" he asks me.

"I wanted to be a singer after doctor," I tell him.

"You play any instruments?" he asks me.

"Guitar, Piano, drums. I haven't in a while though," I tell him.

"Why?" He asks me. I want to tell him why. I'm just scared that he might tell someone though, so for some reason I start crying again.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"Don't be sorry," he says handing me a tissue box. I never buy tissues, because I find them a waste of money. I grab a tissue and dab my eye, "You don't have to tell me why you stopped playing."

"Well I stopped, because my father died. I just didn't really have it in me to continue playing. But then my mom smashed my guitar and the drum kit. I fell against the piano one night and broke it." That's not entirely true, however, I can't tell him the real story. He'll call the foster home. I can stick it out a bit longer until I have enough money to run.

"I'm sorry about that," he says, "You can play my guitar any time you want."

"Thanks," I say smiling. I push myself off the counter and wrap my arms around him,  
"Thanks Rory."  
He pulls away and says, "I'm sorry I didn't stick up for you in the cafeteria today."  
"It's okay," I say, "We don't really know each other. I didn't expect you to."

"What Patty said was horrible."

"Well at least it's true," I tell him, "She used to make things up about me."

"You mean you actually tried to ki-."

"Yes!" I shout then lower my voice, "But my mom had to walk in."

"Why would you want to do that? You have so much going for you," he says.  
"You know nothing Rory," I tell him, "You know nothing about what I have to deal with. These boyfriends are least of my concerns."

"But you're pretty, can play instruments, smart. I saw you got best in the grade and I know you skipped. You've won all sorts of athletic awards in the past."

"How do you know that?" I ask him.

"I saw your name on all of the plaques. I mean why _did_ you want to kill yourself?"

"Bye," I say walking away, "I thought you were different, but you're just like everyone else. If you were me, you'd want to kill yourself too!" I open the door and walk out into the cold air. I take not of the fact that I'm just wearing shorts and a tank top.

"Prim!" Rory says running after me.

"What?" I ask him.

"I am different. And I'm not judging you. It's just… it, it scares me," he tells me.

"What scares you?"

"The fact that someone with so much promise like you would take their life. I'm not making fun of you. I'm asking why you did it so that we can fix it."  
"Or start a rumor about me?" I ask him.

"No, I'm not going to start a rumor about you!"

"Why do you care then? You don't even know me."

"Maybe I don't know you, but I do know that for some reason I want to protect you."

"I want to know about you first," I say, "Why are you here? Why didn't you live with your family? Why do you have scars all over you wrist?"

"Come inside and maybe I'll tell you why," he says.

**Review please. **


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